Blog Entries With Tag: blood sugars

I've been undergoing physio for a tennis elbow problem (see earlier blog at this link). Well, that all ended this past Friday - since the anti-inflammatory medication I was prescribed by a walk in clinic doctor seem to be doing the job (if not - I have to wait for an appointment in August for a cortizone shot - which I'd like to avoid if I can). I'll still have to keep up with the exercises that my physio therapist had given to me - to strengthen up the muscles in the elbow area - but for now - I can type away much longer (and I'm not wearing the tension elbow band - since I left it at the sailboat last week - oops). The main thing - I have my work station set up - so that is one step in the right direction.

I had asked the prescribing doctor at the time if the medication she prescribed would affect my blood sugars - and she said it wouldn't. I must have been doubting this doctor in my mind since I asked the same question to the pharmacist when I picked up the prescription. They said the same thing.

Well, THEY ARE WRONG!!! My blood sugars since starting on them have been more wild then the craziest roller coaster ride I've been on. I am unable to get my blood sugars to my happy zone - so riding in the 180 - 250 range - even with corrections via syringe - increasing basal rate. I was not a happy camper - if you follow me in Twitter or Facebook - you would have seen my meows of frustration.

Today, I was in a discussion on one of the diabetic groups I follow on Facebook for insulin pumpers - and a gal was having problems with her own BG's (maybe due to an infection we think - but not certain). I told the group of my problems lately - and found out that anti-inflammatory I'm taking is a steriod and these WILL alter your blood sugars ((though the website for what I'm taking doesn't seem to mention this). Also, a pharmacist friend (also a T1D and having probs with her own blood sugars) had mentioned that even if what I'm taking is NSAID, or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, we all differ in how we react to medications we take. Another point she made, which makes sense, it could be from the cortisol release from the pain or inflammation I'm taking and not directly related to the medication. All good points to consider, and great to have a medically trained member on some of the groups I belong to!

One fellow mentioned that I should up my basal rate on my insulin pump by 30% while I was taking these meds. So, off I went since 10% isn't working for me, changed my settings on Michael George and he started alarming. WTF? He was only set for no more then 1 unit of insulin per hour for my Maximum basal rate - so he was alarming that he would not deliver due to my settings. I've never had this type of warning before - so learned something new today. I also had to change the Total Daily Dose (TDD) setting so George is permitted - otherwise he'll alarm again. Now you can see, that we humans still rule what our pumps do for us, without our permission to override the program we've set up for them - they will alarm, and alarm, until you follow the simple procedures to change your settings. There are alot of safety factors in operating and using an insulin pump - to protect the user.

I have to admit. Since I had DKA as a teenager in the 80's - I don't think I've ever used this much insulin before. I'm not sure if it's also to do with the weight gain from menopause - but feel probably the hormonal issue is what is adding to my blood sugars going wacky.

All I know is, hopefully I will be able to eat my meals abit better now. I mean, why shove food into my body, when my blood sugars are so high? Food only contributes to make my blood sugars wacky!! I know, I know, we need some sort of energy food, so I'm doing my best, but very difficult especially when I have to eat in order to take the anti-inflammatory medication since you can't take these pills without food - or nasty tummy problems occur.

Ahhh - the life as a diabetic on a roller coaster ride - sometimes it's not all fun and games - but we survive - especially when we've got mates out their in the D-OC (diabetic online community) that come to your rescue with advise when you need it!

Well, since starting Ginger Viera's 15 week weight loss challenge I've been having a few issues with trying to complete my 30 minute exercise every day due to low blood sugars in the morning. I've managed to get in abit of exercise by parking the car further away from the store front (I've always done that - now I go ... further). Last night I managed to get my hubby to go for almost an hours walk along the river, we haven't done that in years! Only thing I forgot to bring was my Dex4 since my blood sugar went down.

Also, I'm just trying to rethink how each little thing I do, can help burn off some of the foods I'm eating. I'm using small hand weights every day (3 lbs) - nothing like Ginger does, but I'm pretty happy with the progress of building up muscles in my arms and upper back. I need these muscles more then ever now for the bigger jib sheet I have to work with on our 30' sailboat (I was cursing / grunting like a sailor on the w/e even with the 2 speed winches we have as we were tacking alot for practise).

Today, I decided to step on the old scale. I've never been a big lover of doing this, as I often find my bubble gets burst. I go more by how my clothing fits me, and how I feel. I'm now at 150 lbs / 68 kg and I'm really amazed at this. I've not weighted this low for a long time. I've been fighting not to go over 160 since I'm not a tall girl (my endo said recently that I'm 5' 3 1/2" / 1.61 m - my GP said last year I'm 5' 4 1/2" / 1.64 - go figure that one out). I know, it's only an inch / 2.54 cm - but it makes a big difference to me!

One thing that I really owe to Ginger, is making sure I have a breakfast in the morning. I've never been a big lover of that. Usually an espresso would do and I'd eat later mid-morning. She's like me, loves yoghurt, though I guess I'm the evil one, since my yogurt is 6% fat, compared to her 0%. I sometimes find low fat yoghurt sold in stores is higher in carbs, and I'm trying to reduce my carbs. Therefore, I have a smaller amount of yogurt, 1/2 a cup, sprinkled with fresh fruit and sometimes when I feel like going overboard, sprinkle on some museili.

And since I won't have Internet useage on the weekend to write - as I'm heading off to the floating cottage - here's a little picture for all you Dad's out there - Happy Father's Day. Don't do what the Fat Cat does below - and guzzle too much beer (it's got alot of carbs in it - belch).

This is a short blog - as I'm pretty well freaking out at what is happening. Again, have a feeling due to stress of work lately that this is one of the causes for what is happening.I am presently disconnected from Salvador Dali (my Animas 2020 pump) - as I've been fighting BG's in 8-10 mmol/l / 144-180 mg/dl range for the past week - can't bring them down. Went to bed last night with 22 mmol/l / 400 mg/dl - haven't had this since I ate 16 slices of chocolate cake (only kidding - only had 1 chocolate chip muffin the other day for a birthday treat). Darn, I never stop making fun of this diabetes we suffer from can I? My way of handling this disease I expect, but probably not alone in how we cope with crazy periods like this. Anyway, I decided to pull the plug (pump) at this point in time. No air bubbles in tubing, did a test to see if insulin coming through tubing, fine. I injected my basal insulin (Lantus) and correction insulin (NovoRapid). Had a glass of water (hello - blood sugars are high).

This morning, 8 hours later, 16 mmol/l / 295 mg/dl. WTF??? BG correction with Novolin R- 4 units!!! Another basal shot (oops - forgot to write that down - used to insulin pump keeping all that information for me - must be more diligent with writing down what I'm doing here).

So I'm abit worried, will be calling up endo tomorrow to ask for help, as I'm not sure what to do. Could be changes in life as well effecting how my insulin is working besides stress? Maybe I have become insulin resistant over my 43 years of having diabetes? Maybe I have ..... ??? Too many questions, and yes I am scared here.

Wish me luck! Any suggestion of what my next step could be - other then ER (hate HATE doctors) - I'm all ears!

My blood sugars the last few days have been abit wacky in the morning as well into the afternoon.. I reached a high of 20 mmol/l the other day, something that occurs once in a blue moon for me, even when I was on multiple doseage injections (MDI). It was to the point where I wanted to chuck out the insulin pump the other day and go back to 8-10 injections a day! Then I thought, hang in there, life will get better and you'll be out $7K if you throw out the pump. Sometimes diabetes can take a nose dive and not do what it's supposed to do, and it gets pretty frustrating for us all as we try to maintain blood sugars that aren't dangerously high.

I think my problem was probably due to stress. Having been away from home
for a whole week, things didn't get done since the Domestic Engineer,
moi, was away. Facing mounds of laundry, housework, along with my
going thru' the piles of info I'd collected at the IDF World Diabetes
Congress and other work I do I was finding life a bitoverwhelming.
I've not felt this way in along time!

I
was beginning to wonder, should I quit some of my jobs, and just take
it easy? Being the type of person that I am, I resisted the urge to
pack it in, and managed to stride on, as we all do, and now with the
change of the infusion set, blood sugars appear to be better, but I
think I'll have to be performing some basal tests when I have time.
Actually, I WILL find time (and by putting it in writing to you
all I hope to take a breather aka time out), as my health comes first.
Something we diabetics have to think about constantly and can become
abit of a pain in the buttocks from time to time, but that is life!

Another problem I think may have made my blood sugars worse was the area I had my infusion set
in. I've been using my thighs more often, due to the fact, I have lots
of places to plunge in the sets, rotating 1" at a time every 3 days. I
think I've now discovered, the closer I get to the inside of my thigh,
is perhaps not a good place to infuse!

Curious - for those of you that are using insulin pumps, how often do you test your basal rates? When you are having weird blood sugars like I have been experiencing?

I wrote up a blog a few weeks ago - about taking a rest from testing my fingers (My Porky Pigs Fingers are tired). Well, Doris a frequent poster here posted a reply and she pointed out - which I didn't know about - and I quote - "Please just remember that using any place other than your fingers is less than accurate due to proximity to the heart". Lordy, lordy - this is news to me about the heart bit effecting my blood sugar readings when I test - I feel like Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies . I mean here in Canada not having the use of the Joslin Institute that some of you are fortunate enough to have makes me feel quite inadequate to say the least. Sigh.

The jist of my babble here is - when I tested on my forearm this morning like I've been doing in order to give my finger tips a break (I use the Freestyle Lite - which takes the smallest amount of vampire blood so far on the market of blood meters here in North America) - I was 5.4 mmol/l (97.2 mg/dl) - I then went and tested my finger - and it was 6.4 mmol/l (115 mg/dl) !!! A difference of 1 mmol/l (19 mg/dl) between the two readings! Yikes, so I went and bolused for my breakie and BG correction (I aim for 4.5 mmol/l or 81 mg/dl) - and now it's 12:30 p.m. - and I'm having a friggin' hypo as I'm at 2.8 mmol/l (not normal for me at this time of the day - and I haven't done anything out of the AbNoRmAl today except scoot out to purchase a new mouse and cat food for my critters).

I'm now thinking I should have maybe gone with my reading on my forearm and just gone from there like I always do. Je suis une imbécile - mon dieu! I'm going to have to go and do abit more research on testing on the forearm and finger tips - and post links here abit later - if it's not too late to edit my blog.

I now must go take care of my blood sugars (just ate a few sinful pieces of Capricorn Soft and Delicious Austalian liquorice - I am a connoissuer of liquorice - and 2 pieces are only 19g of carb) - and get on with the rest of my day here in "raining like cats and dogs" Montreal (and only 10C (50F) temperature here as well - a wee bit coolish for my taste).

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